Love and Chlorine
by CapriciousKrego
Summary: Gray always wanted to be not noticed, however when the "Queen" of their school accidentally breaks her leg. He finds himself as the school's only chance and he finds himself in love with a certain blue haired swimmer.
1. Chapter 1

In high school, Gray Fullbuster wanted to be a in the crowd type of person. He did not want to stand out in any way possible, he thought other people that tried to get other's to like them and look up to them were snobby and stuck up. This was Gray's second year at his school and the only people that really knew him where his circle of friends, some that he has known since childhood. Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Cana, Mirajane, Lisanna, and Elfman, he had more friends but they were his main circle.

As Gray waited for the last five minutes of class to end, he stared out of his window that was the best thing about having a window seat, he could watch the clouds for days a barely have to pay attention to what was going on around him especially since his school loved to gossip, and the hottest topic for the past few months has been "Queen", Juvia Lockser year 2 she transferred from a former school that had gotten shut down due to some incidents. As soon as she arrived she joined the swim team, and became a superstar over night. She made all the boys fall in love with her at a drop of a hat, that is except for Gray. He didn't really think she was all that, she never talked to anyone it was like her own presence was too good to talk to anyone else and no one ever really saw her she kept to herself and locked herself away in the school's pool.

The bell finally rang, and the class was dismissed as Gray walked out of the class he overheard fellow classmates chatting.

"Hey, did you hear the "Queen" has a national swim meet coming up in two weeks"

"Really, are you going to go"

"Uh duh, dude are you kidding. Anything to see that water goddess in a swimsuit."

Gray rolled his eyes. is 'she' all others could talk about. He headed to his locker to get some materials for his up and coming tests, until his line of vision was disturbed with a mass of pink hair leaning near him.

"Natsu, what do you want this time" Gray asked, he knew anytime Natsu wanted him to do something he would talk to him alone.

"What please, I don't need any favors." Natsu kept looking away. Until he saw Gray raise and his eyebrow, "Fine I just need you to do, one little thing for me."

Gray shifted his body to rest on the locker. "No, I won't do it"

"What really Gray, you don't even know what I was about to ask" Natsu gave Gray the puppy dog eyes.

Gray flinched it was weird when he did that, "Fine, What is it Natsu?"

"Well I need you to clean the pool for me, you see I got detention when I jumped through the window into the pool and the teacher was all like 'if you have time to jump in it you have time to clean it' and so I need you to do it cause I have a tutoring class to get to and if I don't go I might fail the grade. You don't want your best friend to fail do you!" Natsu spoke so fast and so loud that people started to stare. But Gray got the situation, even though he really didn't want to do it he had to.

Gray took a deep breath and sighed, "Fine, I'll do it .But wont the teachers see me there?"

"Not at all," Natsu laughed. "He has a meeting till 6, and as long as your done with it by then you'll be fine."

Natsu gave him a toothy grin and started running in the opposite direction. "Thanks Gray, I owe you one."

Gray gathered all the cleaning materials, and changed into his swim trunks. If he was going to do this job he wasn't going to do it half-assed, and he wasn't going to get his uniform wet either. As he stepped inside the double doors that lead to the pool, he saw a figure swimming.

'Great this person just has to make my job ten times harder' Gray thought, now he had to kick someone out. As he waited for whoever it was to come out of the water, he noticed that the figure was a girl and he also noticed that her hair was as blue as the water itself. He thought it was strange, but he just could not take his eyes off of the figure in the water. They way she glided and made the water almost move with her was mesmerizing. Then all of a sudden the figure stopped moving, and just stayed there.

After what felt like a minute Gray started to panic was the person dead, should he do anything? But his thoughts were all in vein because a couple of seconds after that the figure started raising themselves onto the edge of the pool. That is until she saw Gray standing there, only in his swim trunks. She dived back in and swam to the other side of the pool.

Gray stood there bewildered, that was Fairy Tail Highs sacred "Queen". She really was a stuck up person, to go as far as swimming to the other side of the pool just so she didn't have to talk or even look at him. Then an idea came to him. If she was going to act like this he at least was going to have some fun.

He dropped all of his equipment and dove in the pool, having some competitive swimming experience he raced to the side were the Queen had dashed. As he planned, he felt the water shift and saw her dash to the other side. This little race continued for several minutes until he cornered her.

Out of breath and water in his eyes, he laughed "Finally caught you." When his blurry vision faded he saw something he never expected.

She was crying, the Juvia fricking Lockser the school idol was crying. Had he caused this?

"Wh-what do you want from Juvia" Gray stared at her. Why did she look so scared?

Gray wanted to put her at ease so he answered. "Nothing, I just wanted to tell you to get out the pool I need to clean it."

She looked down like she was thinking, and then yelled out, "Then why are you half naked?"

Gray was dumbfounded how could him, being in his bathing suit be considered half naked.

"I thought I would get my uniform wet so I changed, is that a problem?" At this point Gray was really confused was this really the girl that everyone idolized over. Wasn't she suppose to be more snarky and bitchy.

To find out if it was really Juvia, Gray swam a little closer. This seemed to startle Juvia and she jumped tears still rolling down her eyes that were being swept away by the pool water. He saw her grab the edge of the pool and she hoisted herself up and ran for it. 'Is she stupid, running while wet' Gray thought it was such a rookie mistake to make.

"Hey stop, watch ou-" Before he could finish there was a loud crash. Then a high scream echoed throughout the pool area. "Kyyaaa"

Gray grabbed the edge of the pool and jumped out; when he reached Juvia she was tangled in all his cleaning equipment.

"Hey are you okay." Gray was worried if she was injured he had no idea of what to do.

She stayed as quiet as a mouse not saying anything and as Gray stared at her she started to feel more uncomfortable.

"Hey can you stand?" Gray asked reaching out his hand to her. Juvia stared at his hand for a few seconds finally before taking it.

She abruptly let go, and jerked back when she was finally standing. Gray made the decision 'he didn't like her!', as her turned away and started to pick up his equipment he heard the same sound again.

"Kyaa"

When he turned around he saw the Queen huddled over on the ground clasping her leg. Gray ran over to her and inspected her, he didn't know much about the medical field but he did know is that someone's leg should not be fully facing an opposite direction.

Now she was really crying, Gray started flailing his arms around asking if she needed anything. This just made her cry harder, he didn't want to touch her because he could make it worse but he also thought that he shouldn't leave a crying girl all alone. Gray sighed this girl was going to be the death of him, he made the a decision and he picked Juvia up bridal style. To his surprise her crying had calmed down.

"Whaa-a, please put Juvia down!" She said in between sobs.

Gray was kind of surprised; even with all she was going through Juvia was still polite to the end. No one ever really said please anymore so he didn't know what to think of it.

"No way you need to get your leg looked at, and I'm not putting you down till we reach the Nurse's Office."

Juvia stared at him he had so much strength a determination in his voice, even if he did say it a little coldly. She decided the best thing to do was be quiet a hope he didn't drop her.

Gray was some-what proud of himself he was helping someone like a prince in one of those fairy tales, the only problem was that the story did not say how heavy someone would be. As he was running through the hallway Juvia was slipping out of his arms, with all the movement that was happening and how slippery she was it all made him feel like he was climbing Mount Everest and fall all the way to the bottom.

"Don't drop Juvia"

Gray looked down, Juvia's tears had stopped but now she was just worried that he would drop her.

"I won't, I promise where almost there anyways." Gray gave her a reassuring smile. He didn't want to tell her that she was heavy and he sure as hell wasn't going to say it because he would come across as weak.

The farther they got down the hallway the more Gray noticed that people were staring at them, some gave him a dirty look others were whispering. From what he could tell he was about to become a target for getting to close to the school's precious "Queen".

Gray turned the corner and opened the Nurse's office door, while inside he explained everything that happened and put Juvia down on the bed. The Nurse then took a look at Juvia and said that she would be back in a minute since she had to call an ambulance.

Gray looked down at Juvia and sighed 'it must really suck to break you leg when you're on a team' he thought.

"Well I have to get going" Gray said while walking away from Juvia. That was until he felt a tug on his wrist.

"Thank you for bringing Juvia here!"

"No problem, just watch where you're running next time."

"But, it was your fault for chasing after Juvia" She stated looking down at the ground, smirking.

"What! No one ever told you to jump out of the pool like that." Gray was fuming how could she blame him for her breaking her leg. After all that he did for her, and why was she talking in third person? For about five full minutes they stared each other down, that was until paramedics came inside the room a hoisted Juvia onto a stretcher.

Gray was relieved she was finally out of his hair. He turned to the clock and noticed the time 5:30.

"Oh crap, I've only got 30 minutes to finish cleaning the pool!" Gray shouted and with that he ran off.


	2. Chapter 2

_**/./Please enjoy/./**_

The next day Gray was a real grump, his aura told everyone to back off and everyone did, except that Natsu didn't seem to get the memo.

"So Gray, how did cleaning to pool go."

Gray just stared at Natsu; if he could blame anyone for yesterdays' disaster he was going to blame Natsu. "Fine" he mumbled.

Natsu smiled. "Thanks man you're a life savor"

After Gray's staring match with Natsu died down Lucy walked up to them.

"Hey, Gray. Are all the rumors about you and the "Queen" true?" Lucy stared at him with wonder. However before Gray could say anything Natsu butted in.

"What rumors," Natsu looked back and forth between Gray and Lucy.

"You know the one where people are saying that Gray tried to force himself on the 'Queen', or the one about him dragging her through the halls by her hair."

"Really whoa, when did this all happen." Natsu started laughing; when he was done he hit Gray lightly in the stomach with the back of his hand. "Gray, you did all that. I never knew you had it in you."

"Of course I didn't do any of that stuff!" Gray retorted loudly

"Really, dang! I mean no one would fault you for the first rumor the 'Queen" is pretty hot," Natsu started to laugh again, this time harder until Lucy hit him in the back of the head."Baka, this is not a time to be laughing".

Lucy sighed and started again. "Gray why don't you tell us what really happened."

As Lucy sat down in the chair next to Gray, he let out a deep breath and started to tell the tale of how Natsu asked him to clean the pool, he found Juvia, he raced her, how she broke her leg, and how he carried her to the nurse's office. When he was done they were silent.

"I get it now," said Lucy "I get it, it's all Natsu's fault."

"What, how'd you get that" screamed Natsu.

Lucy glared at him. "Jokes aside Gray I think you should clear these rumors up. They could get you into serious trouble."

"Yea I know". Gray sighed again, for what he counted to be the hundredth time that day.

"Yea, but what's up with the 'Queen'. The way you describe her it's like she's a whole different type of person."

When Natsu said that it got Gray thinking, Juvia was much different than he had imagined, she wasn't snarky but she was defiantly anti-social. She wasn't bitchy but that didn't mean she couldn't stand up for herself either and to top it all off it seemed that she had a wild imagination.

Grays' thoughts were cut short when the overhead speaker came on.

'Gray Fullbuster please report to the principal's office, Gray Fullbuster to the Principal's office,' Natsu and Lucy stared at Gray; they didn't know what was going to happen to their friend. Those rumors were pretty serious and if the higher ups knew about it then Gray was screwed.

Erza the class representative walked up to Gray with a sad look in her eyes. Even though her eyes looked sad her voice wasn't.

Her voice echoed "Gray get up I'm assisting you to the Principal's office!"

"Erza I don't need help, I know where it is."Gray whished he hadn't said that, because the look in her eyes now where menacing.

"It wasn't a request, it was an order!"

With that said Gray jumped out of his seat and followed behind Erza towards the main office. While walking out of the classroom he scanned everyone's face, some of the other students had total disgust and others had jealousy written all over their faces. But he could understand what almost everyone was thinking, 'I hope he gets what he deserves for making the 'Queen' suffer and cry.

Gray and Erza walked down the deserted hallway, until Erza abruptly stopped.

"Okay Gray, explain to me what is going on with you." Erza said in almost a whisper.

Gray took a deep breath and told her "Nothing's going on, these rumors your hearing are just rumors. Yesterday Juvia broke her leg and I carried her to the nurse's office."

Erza nodded, "Did the 'Queen' tell you to start calling her Juvia". Gray chuckled to himself "You know, she's not stuck up as some people think, she's just odd," and with that Gray walked by himself the rest of the way.

Before Gray could knock on the door, principal Makarov called him in.

"You can come in my boy."

Gray stepped inside and saw the tiny man pointing at the chair ushering Gray to sit down, and just like that the conversation begun.

"Okay Gray, you know the school is now in a tight predicament because of what happened yesterday right."

Gray nodded, all he could think was 'so the higher ups really did hear about the rumors, but how did that really affect them'.

Makarov continued "since Juvia will now be in the hospital for the next three days she will be put on house rest as soon as possible, and since you were there during the accident the faculty decided that you will swim in place for Juvia at the national meet."

Gray's jaw dropped for two reasons. One they didn't hear the rumors and, two he was being forced to partake in a national swim meet.

"Why choose, me?" Gray finally said after the shock went away.

"Gray I have known you since you were a little brat, don't you think I know you are one of the best replacements in this school for Juvia, and before you ask I know that none of the swim team members could surpass your skill, well except for Juvia that is." Makarov smiled at his brilliant plan.

Gray hung his head low. 'Great', he thought 'more unwanted work.'

"Speaking of your skill" Makarovs' voice perked up "I also know that you are one of the top students of your class" so at the end of every week you are going to report to Juvia's house with all her work and tutor her."

"What are you talking about old man, how much things do you want me to do!"

Makarov gave Gray a fierce look, Gray sat down even though he didn't remember ever standing up.

"This is the final decision Gray" Makarov left out a confidant sigh "you are now dismissed."

Gray stormed out of the room; he looked more than pissed off. Makarov watched as Gray stormed away and he couldn't help thinking that the next couple of weeks were going to be very interesting.

Two days later, Gray was sitting at the edge of the pool. He was still over whelmed with all the information that was given to him. At this point the rumors were getting worse since Juvia hadn't come back, but that was to be expected. Gray sighed his life was getting more complicated and that was something he didn't want. Since Gray now had an unlimited pass to the pool so he could train, he decided he was only going to use it as a way to relax. The old man did said that he only had to participate in the meet not actually win, that was how Gray interpreted it anyway. With a sigh Gray stood up and headed to the bathroom, to cool off.

As soon as Gray was gone another person entered, it was Juvia. She was supposed to be on bed rest but she found that she couldn't stay away from the pool. She knew she couldn't swim being in a wheelchair and all, but she missed how the water would glisten and reflect the light from the windows above. It was Juvia's turn to sigh, she looked at the water and she felt like she was going to cry. The national swim meet was her chance to get scouted by the University she wanted to go to, and now she has been informed that she couldn't swim and what made it even worse was that the person who was her replacement was the one in her mind, that broke her leg in the first place. All she wanted to do was get out of the city of Magnolia and now her dream was slowly slipping away.

Not too far away a squeak of a door was echoed throughout the pool area, and out walked Gray. When he got closer to the pool the dark figure that he saw came into his vision, and he stood there shocked.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on bed rest?" Gray asked.

Juvia nodded her head and in a quite whisper he heard her say "Juvia just couldn't stay away."

Gray sat down on the tile floor next to her wheelchair; this was very awkward for him he didn't know what to say.

"Hey...uhm..." Before he could continue Juvia interrupted him.

"Gray, why are you filling in for Juvia at the swim meet?" She turned her wheelchair around to face him.

Gray look up at her, he shrugged. "I was asked to, but it's not like I plan to win it or anything."

"Why not, you have to win!" Juvia shouted out.

Gray was surprised by her reaction, 'why did she want him to win'.

"Because I don't really care, Makarov said to participate in the meet and that's what i plan to do. End of story."

"Bu-but you can't do that, you must win for Juvia." Juvia started to yell to get her point across she needed him to win.

Gray stared at her she was either really competitive or mentally insane. "Yes and why should I?" He retorted back. He began to chuckle lightly. Until, he saw that.

Juvia started crying, Gray couldn't deal with that. It was his only weakness, a crying girl, and it seemed that her crying was becoming a regular thing around him. Nevertheless he kneeled down in front of her and said "Okay fine, I'll try to win."

Juvia looked at him through her watery eyes, she still felt like crying but the calmness in his voice calmed her down. it was her turn to stare now and Gray couldn't help but look into her eyes. They were as blue as the sky and they appear to gleam and glimmer when the news of him winning for her reached her ears. He couldn't help but turn away and give a slight blush, but then he had to stop to ask.

"Why do you want me to win so badly?" Gray's voice was now full of curiosity.

"We-well." Juvia stammered "a deal was struck between the principal and the scout of Juvia's first choice in university; they agreed that if you win. Juvia will get a second chance once she's better to have another observing by the college scout."

Another sigh escaped from Gray's lips, "fine, I'll do it, but I haven't swam competitively in years so don't expect too much for me okay."

Juvia nodded, then she then she came up with a brilliant idea.

"It's okay Juvia will train you."

Gray looked at her like she was crazy, "But you know you're in a wheelchair, right Juvia"

She just looked at him and smiled softly. "Just watch, Juvia can do it." She lifted her fist with determination.

AN:_** Well today is my birthday so I thought how about I finally upload the chapter i wrote, days ago. So here it is, I would like to thank everyone for the lovely reviews.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Yeah! It's finally chapter 3. Please Enjoy.**

Three days later, Gray was still wondering what Juvia meant by, "Just watch, Juvia can do it." He couldn't get her out of his mind, Juvia was the school's 'Queen' she was suppose to be different more stuck up. But every time he would look at her or even think of her, her smile seemed to be embedded in his brain.

When the last class of the day was over, Gray headed to Juvia's class to ask the class representative for Juvia's work from this week.

After he collected her work he headed to the office to retrieve her home address. While walking down the street Gray was just hoping that these next two weeks would just fly by, he really didn't want to tutor, and he really didn't want to compete in a swim meet, however now that he really had no choice in the matter he was going to do his best.

He reached the last house on the left and stared at the building, it was super nice -in his mind anyway- and he kept looking at the mailbox in front of the house to make sure it was Juvia's. But the mailbox indeed said 'Lockser', so he knew he was in the right place. When he first rang the doorbell there was no answer, the house was still. So he rang it again, and again, and... again.

Seconds later he began to hear shuffling from inside of the house, then a loud crash and before he could open his mouth to yell Juvia's name the door flew open. At first Gray could say he was shocked, but that wasn't the right word and all he knew the sight in front of him was hysterical. Gray tried to stare at her without laughing but the task was more difficult than he imagined, there stood Juvia covered in head to toe in layers of clothing from a hat on her head to snow boots on her feet and about six scarves wrapped around her in his mind she reminded him of a overly dressed nun. While caught in his daze of laughter he forgot he was just standing there.

"Gray, what are you doing at Juvia's home?" Juvia said putting down her left crutch, which to Gray looked liked she made it into a weapon more than something for supporting her leg.

"Ah, Juvia" Gray said through gritted teeth, he was still finding it hard not to laugh. "I'm suppose to tutor you Friday's didn't you get the memo."

Juvia's eyes grew wide.

"So, can I come in?" Gray said flatly he wanted to get out the heat soon, an staring at an overly dressed Juvia was making the heat feel worse to him.

Juvia shifted side to side on her crutches. As Gray watched her it seemed like she was deciding if she would let him in or not.

Gray sighed; she couldn't make this easy on him could she.

"Ano... G-gray," Juvia started to stutter, and Gray noticed she looked more nervous than usual.

"Alright, I get it" Gray's voice interrupted Juvia. See looked up in shock.

Gray looked at his watch all he wanted to do was go home and do something, but he knew he had a duty to fulfill.

"Just meet me at the library in 30 minutes, if you don't show up that means you don't want me to tutor you."Gray turned around and smirks. "It wouldn't make a difference to me, that just means less work for me."

He continued walking towards the city. Gray left Juvia watching his residing figure, she thought it was funny how he dealt with situations he was cool and hard-working yet lazy. She smiled, but then she mentally kicked herself for thinking about him.

Gray sat at the table leaning as far back as he could without falling, he was actually hoping Juvia wouldn't show. But he knew that it wasn't going to be a likely situation she would do her part, and he supposed that she didn't want to fail because of her absence in school. While he kept thinking about Juvia more and more questions about her appeared in his mind. 'Why didn't she want him to come inside?'

'Why was she always fidgeting and nervous around him?' and 'Why did she always speak in third person?'

Gray groaned, why was SHE the only thing on his mind for these last couple of days. He decided he just stop, it couldn't be that hard.

That was until she interrupted him.

"Ano G-gray, Juvia thought you would have left already" Juvia said interrupting his train of thought.

Sitting up Gray stared at his watch; it was indeed after the time limit that he gave her.

"Oh, I had nothing better to do so I thought I'd stick around." Gray said gathering all the materials together so he could tutor her.

"Why are you late anyway?" He asked.

"Juvia kind of had a hard time getting around," she said motioning towards her crutch. That made Gray feel like a huge jerk not only did he make her hobble over there on her crutch, but if he had actually left she would have to walk back.

He gave her a motion for her to sit next to him. Gray saw Juvia furrow her eyebrows she leaned her crutch against the table an instead sat in the chair in front of him.

Gray stared at her, did he really smell that horrible or do something bad to make her not sit beside him. She was acting weird since he met her at her house and to top it all off she still looked over dressed. Yes, she did indeed remove some of her many layers that she had on before but she was still sporting what looked like a long dark blue formfitting trench coat, thigh-high brown boots, and a blue Russian looking hat with a butterfly to top it off. Gray hated the heat and just by looking at her he felt really hot.

Later on the tutoring session began, and Gray started to teach Juvia all of the lessons from the start of the week. He found out that

Juvia was really easy to teach and he liked that. It was less work for him in the long run, he did however notice anytime he would lean forward or get closer to her she would inch away from him. Confusion was etched on his face, did she find him repulsing or was that the trait if being a "Queen".

When he got out of her daze he realized that they were done for the evening, he watched her finish her practice problems and was about to start packing up.

'It is now ten minutes from nine o'clock. The library will be closing in the next ten minutes. Thank you for coming and good night.'

The loud speaker then shut off, he glanced at his watch to see that it was indeed almost nine. ' Had time seriously gone by that fast,' he thought. Gray turned to Juvia to see if she was done. However instead of seeing Juvia pack up he saw her staring intently at him.

"Oi, Juvia w-what is it?" For some reason Gray was getting nervous under Juvia's stare.

Juvia's stare grew into a smile, and after a brief moment of a considerate amount of smiling her face started to turn nervous and shy. Juvia put her hands together in her lap and started to shift from side to side.

"Ano... Gray, um tomorrow morning would it be possible to meet Juvia at the school pool."

Gray watched her let out a heavy sigh. 'What's happening?' Gray thought. One minute she was all smiley then the next she was bashful.

His final analysis was that this girl was 100% crazy.

He was still kind of confused so all he could muster were a few nods as his answer.

Juvia smiled again, she placed her belongings in her bag and took her crutches.

"Great," she said "meet Juvia at the school pool tomorrow morning at six a.m sharp.

Gray kept nodding until he heard the time.

"What!" He half screamed, remembering where he was. "I don't even get up that early for school."

Juvia just laughed and waved him off, he was surprised because he found that her laugh half-way calmed him down. He shook his head ' this is not the time to be thinking about that.' He scolded to himself.

"Well Juvia has to get going," she stated as she hobbled off on her crutches.

Gray quickly gathered his thing, "Wait, I'll walk you home."

This time Juvia was the one surprised, she could feel herself fidgeting.

"Ah, Gray really doesn't have to do that for Juvia."

"It's alright I want to." Gray said as he lifted her bag off of her shoulder. "What kind of guy would I be if I didn't walk you home this late at night? Besides it's not like I bite." Gray chuckled.

Juvia sighed looking at him; she knew he was stubborn but still...

* * *

At 5:45 am Gray Fullbuster was just waking up he really hated his luck. Why of all times did Juvia want to go to the pool so early in the morning, he walked to his window and stared at the sky the sun had barley even risen and since it was Saturday it made everything even worse. He was suppose to be sleeping, that is a high school's student number one rule. 'Sleep all day, stay up all night'.

He dragged himself to put on some clothes, and then to grab something to eat, he knew he was going to be running late but he didn't care it was too early to care. When he was done he grabbed his swim trunks and made his way to the school it was now 6:15.

* * *

Juvia was too excited for today, what she had in mind was what she believed one of her best plans yet. She checked her phone to see the time it was now 6:30 she had now been waiting an hour. Yes, it was partly her fault for getting there at 5:30 but she just couldn't wait. After a while she started to regret getting there so early the crutches were starting to her under her arm and it wasn't like she could go inside Gray was the only one with the key to access the pool.

Waiting there made her nervous not just because she was in the wide open but because she was spending the whole day with a boy she barely knew. Juvia fretted what might happen, if he was anything like the guys at her old school she knew what might happen. Her fear would get stronger and she would have to be home schooled, and she wanted anything but that especially with how her parents are. As long as Gray kept his distance Juvia believed that today would go without a hitch.

She finally saw his figure in the distance slowly jogging over to her. He was now about an hour stood there waiting for him to get to where she was, she thought it was weird he was running with no shirt on. What was even weirder to her was that she was watching his every move, and she found out she loved the way his hair glistened in the light off the still raising sun. She shook her head trying to get the image of him out of her mind, until she noticed her was standing right in front of her.

She heard him speaking, "yea sorry I'm late the bus doesn't come to my stop so early in the morning so i had to walk."

Juvia still stared she was still staring at him her eyes followed a bead of sweat that ran down the side of his face and disappeared underneath his chin. She then saw how toned he really was strong arms and legs, toned chest, it was like his body was the greatest artwork Juvia had ever seen because she couldn't help but staring, until her view was blurred by Gray's hand waving back and forth in front of her face.

She snapped out of her daze, "What!" she squeaked.

"Oi, you're staring off into space what you'd wanted to do so early in the morning anyway." Gray shook his hair temporary hypnotizing Juvia again.

When she snapped out of it she held out her hand, "The key please."

Gray gave her the keys as he watched her hesitantly open the door, then turn around and drag a large white board into the pool area. He was amazed Juvia could do so many things while on crutches.

"Come on Gray," Juvia called from inside the building.

When Gray walked in he saw Juvia standing in front of the white bored with a marker. Her eyes told him to sit. He sat down on the cool tile floor about to ask a question when Juvia began writing.

'Welcome, to Juvia's training lesson'

Gray stared at the board, 'so this is watch she meant when she said'

"Just watch, Juvia can do it."

* * *

Juvia's lecture started with the simple things, most of those things Gray already new but he still listened. If she was going to work this hard he wouldn't deny any of her efforts by not paying attention.

But after an hour of her lecture Gray was wondering if it was ever going to stop. She just kept talking and talking and talking.

"Make sure to breathe deeply, before diving that way you'll be able to control your breathing more while swimming."

Then she would throw out vocabulary that he wouldn't know and every time she saw confusion etched on his face she wrote down the word.

"Streamline- is a teardrop contour line that offers the least possible resistance to a current of air, water, etc."

Then she would continue on in her lecture.

"About three strokes from the wall, one hand reaching ahead—beginning the next stroke, keep the one by your side at your side"

"Pull the leading hand through to your side as well"

"Tuck in your chin"

"Bend at your waist"

By the end of the fourth hour it was already noon and Juvia did not seem to notice at all, Gray flinched he was uncomfortable sitting for four hours straight with no breaks his butt fell asleep and now it felt like he couldn't feel it at all.

His attention was recaptured when Juvia let out a sigh and put down her pointer, something he never knew she had until now.

"Alright, it is time to put your knowledge to the test" Juvia held something up "and wear this."

Gray stared at the full body swim suit, "isn't my regular suit better?" He questioned "the less constricting clothing the easier it is to swim right" he added. He wanted to do anything but wear it, it was too much material for him he felt suffocated by just looking at it.

Juvia slightly twitched with his question, "Ano... that is true, but." she couldn't finish her answer. She was about to start stuttering when suddenly the suit was grabbed out of her hand and gray started walking towards the changing room.

"Fine, then let's just get this over with," Gray said while vanishing into the bathroom.

When Gray got back it was training, training, training. He realized Juvia wasn't one for yelling so every time they took a break she would point out the things that he needed work on. On one of Gray's other breaks he found Juvia asleep, to him she looked like one of those helpless puppies you find on the street. He saw her flinch as if she was having a bad dream and he heard her slightly start to mumble incoherent things. Gray leaned in closer it see if he could make out any words.

"No..."

"No, misters don't!"

"Don't touch Juvia there, get away!"

Her mumbles started to sound more like sobs and Gray straightened himself up. His face showed discontent he couldn't wrap his brain around the words he spoke. He knew Juvia was odd and she could be dreaming about anything but the way those words came out and then Gray started to remember every time he would go near her she would flinch, move away, or like what happened the first time she ran.

"D-did Juvia doze off?" Her words brought him back from his thoughts. He nodded.

It was now about 8 o'clock, they had spent the whole day at the pool. Gray thought Juvia would have said time to pack up, however.

"Let's get in a couple more" she said sleepily. Juvia wobbled a little leaning on her crutch.

Gray eyed her worriedly. 'As long as she just stood there she would be fine,' he thought.

The moon was in position over the skyline window, it made the pool area darker but it was as if the pool itself glowed and shined a bright light.

Gray got ready to dive; he looked over his shoulder one last time to get a glance at Juvia. She was still shaky and her eyes look tired.

He dove in feeling the water encircle him and listening to the splashes his arms made. Until he heard a splash that wasn't his, he quickly came up from the water and searched for Juvia. One of her crutches was sprawled at the edge of the pool. Gray put his goggles on and dove.

He caught a glimpse of her hair at the bottom of the pool and with the power that was left in him he pushed against the ripples in the water and caught her hand. Gray needed to get her out as fast as he could with the way her legs were now she would drown, and she would drown fast.

Pulling her body up to the surface of the pool was an easy task and as soon as her head was above water she coughed up any fluid that was in her lungs, however she still didn't open her eyes.

Gray jumped out of the pool and dragged her body out with him, she almost felt like dead weight, but he knew she was still alive he could hear her heart racing a mile a minute.

Once he had Juvia in his arms bridal style, he started to shake her calling out her name.

"Juvia... Juvia, Juvia" the pain obviously heard in his voice.

Gray knew he should have put her down to lay on the ground but he just couldn't, he didn't want to let go of her body.

He felt his arms shake, and he looked down Juvia's eyelids started to flutter. She looked around her, and she hazily saw Gray. His face was adorned by the moonlight and the water droplets hung of his nicely defined jaw line. She wanted to speak but there was only one thing that came out her mouth.

"Gray-sama?"

* * *

**Dun -dun- dun**

**AN: So yea, I meant to get this chapter out soon its just that procrastination had its hold on me. Also i tried to leave a cliff hanger in here, but if it didn't work tell me. I also made this chapter longer so hope you enjoyed. O yea and i finally learned how to do the line thingy in my story so if i go overboard, sorri. Bye Bye for now**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Chapter 4_**

**_-A House with no family-_**

The last thing Juvia remembered was getting up after her nap and that she felt little wobbly. The scene that she was now witnessing was a total shock to her. Her heart was racing a mile a minute; Gray had just saved Juvia from drowning and she found it funny that she almost died from the very thing she loved to do. When she came to she noticed Gray was holding her in his arms bridal style. Juvia had no time to be flattered or even grateful towards him even though he saved her. As soon as those words came out of her mouth she knew that the impossible had already happened. She fell for him; she was in love with Gray. While still in his arms all of her horrible experiences came flooding back into her mind. Juvia went into a sort of catatonic Gray felt that Juvia stopped moving he did the only thing he could do he shook he over and over again however nothing seemed to bring her back the only thing she sort of responded to was Gray saying her name. So he continued.

"Juvia, Ju - Juvia. Stay with me, Juvia please."

His last cry of her name seemed to have woken her up because after that there was a blood curdling scream.

Gray looked down at a screaming Juvia, bewildered he had no idea of what to do. Juvia's body started fidgeting in his arms, and the next thing he knew she jump out of his grasp. She sat there on the floor backing away while still screaming. About a minute later everything was silenced. Juvia's head fell in a side-ward's motion and she collapsed.

Gray sighed to himself again and again, he had no idea what was Juvia's problem. One minute she would be happy, the next minute sad, or even just plain crazy. He had to admit though he did feel sorry for her; from what he overheard when she was sleeping he figured that could be the source of all her weird behavior. All different horrific things were running through his head when he felt Juvia tussle in his arms. He was carrying Juvia home on his back and he just hoped that she did not wake up because if she did there would be more screaming.

* * *

He finally arrived to her house; Gray rang the doorbell and waited for Juvia's parents to open the door. However no one answered, after a few moments he rang again. He knew it was almost 10 o'clock but no one should have been sleeping at this time. There was no sound inside the house, after giving it a good thought Gray believed it would be bad to break in and it would be even worse to take Juvia to his place.

Knowing his step-sister Ultear, there was no way she would give him any time to explain. He adjusted Juvia on his back a bit and bent down in front of the welcome mat, he prayed there was an extra key under it like in all the movies heaves seen. There was, he stepped slowly into the house.

"Hello is anyone there."

After the peculiar silence Gray made his way towards the couch and plopped Juvia down, she was still out cold.

He sat down next to her a looked at her she looked so peaceful but he knew there was something there that she wasn't telling him. Gray got up from the couch and started to search for some towels. After all he did just save her from drowning in a pool and it was not like he could wake her and tell her to change so that she wouldn't get a cold. Also there was no way in hell he was going to change her clothes for her.

So when he required just the right amount of towels from various places in the house he wrapped the towels all around her almost creating some sort of cocoon.

Gray laid on the floor exhausted he had done so much today: ran to school, listen to Juvia's lecture, practice, save Juvia, and give her a piggy back ride all the way to her home. He decided the best course of action was to stay there for the night so that he could explain things to Juvia (and hopefully get some answers) also because Juvia's house was the quickest route to get back to school so he could gather all their stuff. He stripped his shirt and on the floor right beside Juvia on the couch he went to sleep.

* * *

That was until his phone started buzzing and he realized he forgot one crucial thing.

He texted Ultear that he was at Natsu's house for the night, then he texted Natsu to cover for him and tell Ultear he was staying with him.

Gray got one more text and it was Natsu, saying that he wanted to know what was going on that would make Gray not go home. Gray smirked at the text and wrote back "I'll tell u later, I'm to tired know." With all that done Gray drifted back into a sleep state.

That was until he realized he couldn't sleep, he had too many questions to ask Juvia.

'Where are your parents?'

'Why do you always scream when I'm near you?'

'Do you live alone?'

'I heard you say something while you were sleeping. Has anything happened that I should know about?'

'And for the love of pete why do you speak in third person?'

Gray knew the last one wasn't important but he would still have like to now. These questions kept spinning in his head and before he knew it the sun started to shine through the closed curtains in the living room. He let out another sigh and waited for something else to happen, Gray started figuring out that the next two weeks were not going to go by smoothly.

* * *

Juvia groaned feeling a massive headache as she was slowly waking up, she tried to touch her head but her arms were not moving they felt like they were tied up. Quickly Juvia opened her eyes, she look around her taking everything in. 'Why was she home, and more importantly why was she basically wrapped up in a cocoon of towels and blankets. After she struggled to get out of the layers wrapped around her Juvia sat up, Mind was filled with questions. 'How'd she get home? What happened to her last night?, An was she all wet?'

Her thoughts were interrupted when a beautifully delicious smell overwhelmed her nostrils. Juvia face had a curious look, she wanted to get up and investigate however it's not like she could have walked her leg was still healing. So she did the only thing she could do, Juvia slid down the couch and crawled over to the kitchen. When she made it to the kitchen she looked around for any signs of an intruder. To her left she saw a pile of dirty pots and ingredients in every direction. She made it to her dining table when she spotted a nice warm plate of breakfast, it looked delicious but then again Juvia had no idea who did all of this.

After a few seconds of looking at the plated food Juvia heard her front door open, she quickly scurried under the small wooden dining table carrying with her the butter knife the was next to the toast on the table. Moments went by and all she could hear was steps and the sound of wheels. The steps got closer to the kitchen and stopped in front of the table, Juvia's heart beat was beating a mile a minute. Until she heard a chuckle from a voice that she knew all too well.

"Juvia, what are you doing under the table?"

"Gray-sama?" Juvia asked, but then she went silent. 'Why did she just call him that, she hasn't used that suffix since...

Gray knelt down and moved one of the chairs to the side so he could get a full view of Juvia. He stopped when he noticed the butter knife in her hand.

He chuckled to himself "Juvia, Why are you holding a butter knife?"

There was an uneasy air of silence until she spoke.

"Juvia thought there was an intruder, so she took something to protect herself." Gray couldn't keep it in anymore he burst out laughing.

"It's not funny." Juvia pouted.

Gray stopped laughing when he saw her face, her eyes were kind of shining and the pouty expression she had on made her look kind of... He was about to stop his brain from continuing, but Juvia cut off his train of thought.

"By the way what are you doing in Juvia's house?"

Gray scratched the back of his head timidly, he didn't know if he she tell her all of what happened last night or just some of it. So he decided to go with the later.

"Well after you passed out last night, I had to take you home and well, I couldn't just leave you so i slept on the floor. I tried calling out to your parents but no one was home. I couldn't really sleep so when morning came I decided to go and get our stuff from the school."

Gray kept rambling about what happened last night but Juvia's main focus was the Gray slept over and that she was unconscious. Her mind raced a mile a minute that was until Gray's next sentence snapped her out of her trance.

"By the way, where are your parents?"

Juvia looked down, her body language changed to what appeared to be pure and utter gloom. Gray noticed this and quickly tried to retract his last statement.

"Hey you know you don't have to tell me, umm I was just being nosey."

Juvia shook her head, "its okay Gray-sama." She clasped her hand over her mouth she used that suffix again. What was wrong with her she was sure that Gray had done nothing to her to deserve that suffix. The suffix that brought all these horrible memories to her mind, but she couldn't figure out why she kept calling him that.

Gray stretched his hand out to Juvia who was still under the table.

"You know you don't have to tell me anything." Gray stated. He wanted to ease Juvia's mind but he didn't know how.

Juvia took his hand and hobbled over to the couch on her good leg; she let out a deep sigh and looked over to Gray who was standing across from her.

She whispered lightly, "Juvia doesn't have parents." Even though it was light Gray could still hear her, he moved closer to her and sat on the couch but she scooted away.

"Come on Juvia, everyone has parents." Gray stated

Juvia shook her head, "Not Juvia and if she did they didn't want her. Juvia was left in an orphanage since birth, and the people that did adopt Juvia didn't want her either. They got tired of me and dumped me in this house until I graduate."

Gray was taken aback Juvia started using first person speech, it must be serious. He looked around the house and thought 'this is a nice place to be dumped in, however it must be lonely. 'Well I'm not sure of all the things you have been through but I know you're a strong person and that where ever you go and whoever you meet you'll be fine, because you're a pretty awesome person you know."

Juvia picked her head up and stared at him, she wiped away some of the tears she did not even knew she had shed.

In the heat of the moment Juvia threw her arms around Gray crying her last remaining tears into his shirt.

After the surprising hug from Juvia things became a little awkward, Gray promised to come visit Juvia every two days just to see if she was okay. Juvia also made him promise the he would practice every day for at least two hours.

* * *

On his way home Gray mentally checked off the question about Juvia's parents, but the biggest question still remained what happened to her that made her so... He couldn't find the word, but he was sincerely worried about her she had no friends and she was a major introvert, he wanted to do something to change that.

As Gray made his way up the stairs to his front door he heard clanging and thrashing from outside.

'Great Ultear's on one of her rampages' Gray sighed 'I'll just use the backdoor.' He said to himself while turning around. Until, something or rather someone grabbed his ear roughly from behind.

"Gray what a nice surprise, where have you been."

Gray could hear the venom in her voice. "W-What are you talking about Ultear I told you I was staying at Natsu's house for the night!"

"Oh really", Ultear then stepped to her right revealing Natsu, who's ear was also being pinched.

Gray mentally and physically face-palmed.

"Natsu what are you doing here."

Natsu was trying to get out of the grip of Ultear but ultimately failed before explaining.

"Well um yea, this morning I was really bored and I thought I could come over to your house to play some video games. I forgot what you told me, sorry man."

"Yea whatever, pyro it doesn't matter anymore." Gray huffed "It's my fault for trusting you anyway."

"Well now that you two ladies have had a nice chat." Ultear yelled sarcastically "All of us are going to have a little talk."

She dragged Gray and Natsu in the house and began reprimanding both of them, her initial goal was to find out what Gray was doing all day but with all of the anger she was releasing on the two Ultear ended up forgetting.

Natsu went home with and soar ear, and Gray quickly scurried to his room trying to get past the interrogation Ultear was going to soon give him. As Gray laid on his bed all he could think about was Juvia, and how she was alone right now, and how she would never have someone to argue or get mad at with in her life. He felt sorry for her so he decided he would change her world as much as he could, because he knew deep down Juvia had a beautiful smile and he would love to see it.

* * *

**_A/N: Well I haven't updated this story for about 2 months (sorry) you know life (which i don't have), school, and procrastination over took everything. I actually had this chapter done about 2-3 weeks ago however internet problems kept me from updating the story. Oh, and I have absolutely no idea where this story is going I had a layout however I totally went left field form it so if anyone has any idea's for the next upcoming chapters p.s me. I don't usually say this but if you can review please do because i want to know if there are any criticisms out there._**


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